Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many delayed payments to farmers of subsidies there are, broken down by region.

Ross Finnie: My department has paid the majority of Common Agricultural Policy 2003 scheme claims and relatively few are still being processed. The target date for the 2003 cattle schemes is 96% by 30 June 2004. A full regional breakdown of these outstanding cases as at 29 June 2004 is given below. The figures exclude all invalid and ineligible claims. Beef Special Premium Scheme and Slaughter Premium Scheme involve more than one claim per producer.

  2003 CAP Scheme Claims

  

 Area Office
 AAPS
 BSPS
 EPS
 LFASS
 SAPS
 SPS
 SCPS


 Ayr
 0
 194
 135
 3
 10
 142
 20


 Benbecula
 0
 4
 6
 0
 21
 7
 5


 Dumfries
 0
 8
 57
 0
 8
 78
 9


 Elgin
 0
 17
 11
 0
 1
 19
 5


 Gala
 1
 99
 30
 0
 8
 75
 13


 Hamilton
 0
 36
 39
 0
 8
 42
 8


 Inverness
 0
 53
 39
 4
 13
 21
 13


 Grampian
 1
 223
 77
 1
 14
 109
 16


 Kirkwall
 0
 23
 21
 0
 4
 15
 7


 Lairg
 0
 5
 9
 0
 2
 4
 3


 Lerwick
 0
 6
 5
 0
 17
 20
 7


 Oban
 0
 12
 23
 0
 9
 15
 20


 Perth
 2
 139
 64
 0
 11
 118
 30


 Portree
 0
 3
 10
 0
 6
 6
 8


 Stornoway
 0
 4
 10
 0
 27
 5
 22


 Thurso
 0
 16
 19
 0
 8
 23
 9


 Total Being Processed
 4
 932
 555
 8
 167
 699
 195


 Total Paid
 8,385
 39,013
 8,601
 13,145
 11,119
 26,984
 7,554



  Notes:

  AAPS – Arable Area Payments Scheme.

  BSPS– Beef Special Premium Scheme.

  EPS - Extensification Payment Scheme.

  LFASS – Less-Favoured Areas Support Scheme.

  SAPS – Sheep Annual Premium Scheme.

  SPS– Slaughter Premium Scheme.

  SCPS – Suckler Cow Premium Scheme.

Defence

Richard Lochhead (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made, or plans to make, any representations to Her Majesty’s Government in respect of locating the new EU Defence Agency in Scotland.

Mr Tavish Scott: No. It was agreed at an early stage in the planning of the agency that it should be located in Brussels, for the practical reason of its need to work closely with EU structures, military staff and NATO.

Enterprise

Alex Neil (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide information on any follow-up action taken in response to the recommendation contained in the report by Audit Scotland, Local economic forums: A follow-up report , that it should review the added value delivered by local economic forums and whether they still have a worthwhile role to play, against the backdrop of more comprehensive, statutory community planning arrangements.

Mr Jim Wallace: Yes. All of Audit Scotland’s recommendations will inform policy development and implementation relating to Local Economic Forums (LEF). Progress will be reported in a variety of ways including at a stakeholder conference planned for later this year and through the LEF website.

Food

Alex Johnstone (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment has been made of the influence of the supermarket sector on the animal feed manufacturing and supply sector.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive and the Food Standards Agency advise me that no assessment has been made of the influence of the supermarket sector on the animal feed manufacturing and supply sector.

Local Government Finance

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much capital debt is owed by each local authority, expressed as also per capita.

Mr Tavish Scott: The information requested is given in table 10 of the Scottish Local Government Financial Statistics 2002-03 published by The Scottish Executive in 2004, a copy of which is available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 32947).

Pension

Mike Pringle (Edinburgh South) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive which public sector employees’ pension schemes have statements of investment principles incorporating ethical criteria.

Tavish Scott: There are only two funded public service pension schemes. These are the Local Government Pension Scheme and the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme. In the case of the Local Government Pension Scheme, although the Scottish Public Pensions Agency is responsible for regulating the scheme, it is administered by local authorities themselves. There are 11 local authority funds in Scotland, each administered by a fund administering authority with responsibility for the management and investment of its own fund. Regulations require that each fund authority publishes a written Statement of Investment Principles which must include their policy on the extent (if at all) to which ethical considerations are taken into account in the selection, retention and realisation of investments.

  In the case of the Scottish Parliamentary Pension Scheme responsibility for the management and investment of the fund rests with the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body.

  The other public service schemes operate on a pay-as-you-go basis, i.e. there are no "real" pension funds capable of investment.

Pollution

Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-6338 by Colin Boyd QC on 15 March 2004, where, and when, the 15 pollution incidents leading to convictions for Scottish Water took place.

Colin Boyd QC: The 15 pollution incidents leading to convictions for Scottish Water occurred at the following times and places:

  

 Date of Incident
 Place of Incident


 25 April 2001
 Murray Road/ Cullen Road, East 
  Kilbride


 5 May 2001
 Murrayhill Road, East Kilbride


 6 June 2001
 Stapleton Road Sewage Pumping 
  Station, Annan


 13 June 2001
 Philipshill Sewage Treatment 
  Works, East Kilbride


 14 June 2001
 Public park to rear of Headhouse 
  Green, East Kilbride


 7 October 2001
 Stapleton Road Sewage Treatment 
  Works, Annan


 23 May 2002
 Cairneyhill pumping Station, 
  Fife


 11 June 2002
 Ardoch Sewage Treatment Works, 
  Dumbarton


 5 August 2002
 Cove Burn at Cardwell Bay, 
  Gourock


 19 August 2002
 Dalmore Sewage Treatment Works, 
  Clydebank


 23 January 2003
 Auchengiel Sewage Treatment 
  Works, Moodiesburn


 19 March 2003
 Red Burn - pipe serving Dunnswood 
  Waste Water Treatment Works


 24 March 2003
 Torry Burn adjacent to 104 
  Main Street, Cairneyhill, Fife


 15 May 2003
 Torry Burn at Cairneyhill Pumping 
  Station, Fife


 21 May 2003
 Nairn Waste Water Treatment 
  Works, Nairn

Scottish Executive Procurement

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of companies from which it procures goods provide independently verified reports on their social and environmental performance.

Tavish Scott: The Executive does not routinely require such reports of its suppliers. Where appropriate and relevant to the nature of the contract, suppliers may be required to demonstrate that they have a recognised environmental management system, such as EMAS or ISO14001. In other cases, where appropriate, suppliers may be required to demonstrate that they, or their products, comply with recognised independently verified schemes, for example, Forestry Stewardship Council certificates and fair trade labels. Pre-qualification procedures for Executive contracts generally require the bidder to disclose any convictions for failure to comply with legislation, including social and environmental legislation.